On Tuesday, Twitter owner Elon Musk called for an investigation into ‘advocacy’ groups demanding major corporate brands reconsider their decision to fund ads on the platform if Twitter pushes for changes once the Tesla CEO takes control of the platform.
According to a report by the CNN, a group of 25 left-wing advocacy groups have written a letter to the biggest brands, including Coca-Cola (CCEP), Disney (DIS) and Kraft (KHC), asking them to make sure advertising deals made with Twitter are contingent that it will keep in place policies to police “hateful conduct, transparency and enforce civic integrity” or risk losing advertising dollars.
The organisations that have written a letter include – Media Matters for America, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Accountable Tech, a technology advocacy group, the feminist group UltraViolet, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Free Press digital rights group.
“As top advertisers on Twitter, your brand risks association with a platform amplifying hate, extremism, health misinformation, and conspiracy theorists,” the letter read, adding, “Under Musk’s management, Twitter risks becoming a cesspool of misinformation, with your brand attached, polluting our information ecosystem in a time where trust in institutions and news media is already at an all-time low.”
Interestingly, two such advocacy groups – Free Press and Media Matters for America have directly received funding from the Hungarian-American George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.
The report said big brands such as Apple, Best Buy and HBO were targeted in the letter.
“Your ad dollars can either fund Musk’s vanity project or hold him to account,” the letter read.
In response to a CNN report, Elon Musk tweeted, “Who funds these organisations that want to control your access to the information? Let’s investigate….” He also added later, ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’, hinting that transparency and openness, not censoring, are always better.
Elon Musk targets George Soros
Responding to a social media user’s claim that George Soros is behind the letter to the big brands, Twitter chief Elon Musk took potshots at George Soros, asking him to “slide into his DMs”.
Musk said, “I will call him and ask.” Later, he responded to an Open Society Foundations post that said, “George, please slide into my DMs!”.
He added, “Here’s hoping,” expecting Soros to respond to him.
Here’s hoping🤞
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022
Twitter may charge a fee for commercial and government users
In another tweet, Elon Musk dropped a major hint that Twitter may charge a slight fee for commercial and government users to boost the social media platform’s reach.
In a tweet, the billionaire investor wrote, “Ultimately, the downfall of the Freemasons was giving away their stonecutting services for nothing”, hinting that Twitter was providing certain services for free, which it could have commercialised.
He, however, clarified that for “casual users”, Twitter will always be free.
“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” Musk said in a tweet.
Ever since he took charge of the tech giant, Elon Musk has suggested many changes. After buying Twitter, Musk said he wanted to enhance the platform with new features.
